


Made It Clearer, I Ought To Be Nearer

by AlxSteele



Series: Through The Looking Glass [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Developing Relationship, Episode 1x10 This World Inverted, Flirting!Alec, Fluff, M/M, Malec, Post - This World Inverted, Protective!Nerd!Izzy, Shy!Magnus, Smut, awkward!Magnus, non-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 16:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6291001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlxSteele/pseuds/AlxSteele
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the alternate universe of episode 10: This World Inverted. Alec asked Magnus out on a date after Magnus ran out on him at the institute party, awkward shenanigans ensue though there's no real date...!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Made It Clearer, I Ought To Be Nearer

**Author's Note:**

> This is set the night after Alec and Magnus met at the institute party. The first part of the series follows their first interactions leading to this one. You don’t HAVE to have read part 1 but it might help too! Also, this is my first time writing AU Alec's pov so I hope I did it okay!
> 
> I don’t know what happened. This was supposed to be their first date and then… So next up, after this fic, will be their first real date! Also, I know right now this is seeming more like chapters of one story than one-shots in part of a series but it will jump around more after all this first stuff!
> 
> Title from the song When We First Met by Hellogoodbye

Magnus sighed loudly, making the fur on Chairman Meow’s back stand up as he shifted suspiciously on Magnus’ king size bed that was currently a mess of unmade covers — plain brown and quite uncomfortable really — and clothes. Mostly sweaters that were fairly ugly, even if Magnus wouldn’t admit it to himself, and jeans.

He had absolutely nothing to wear on a date. And not just any date… A date with Alexander.

Magnus knew he was being an idiot. He was 400 years old for angels sake. He was an immortal warlock who’d been everywhere, and Magnus did mean _everywhere_.

Alec was…what, twenty years old? A party planner?

But, Magnus added, looking at his own eyes in his floor length mirror on the inside of his walk-in closet, those eyes.

He let himself fall forward and bang his head lightly on the wall. Those bright hazel eyes that seemed to captivate him so. And the dark black hair that Magnus knew if it wasn’t styled so perfectly would be long enough to just tangle his fingers in.

Nope. Stop thinking. Magnus stood up straight, giving himself his most serious look in the mirror, no thinking about Alec with messy bedhead, he thought to himself firmly. Then proceeded to spend the next five minutes thinking about Alec with morning hair. Or hair perfectly messed up by long slender fingers that looked suspiciously similar to Magnus’.

A screech pierced the air, making Magnus shake his head as Church — having interrupted his daydreaming — glared at Magnus. The cat seemed to smirk as he trodden over the clothes spread out on the floor and started scratching at them.

“Demon,” Magnus whispered, narrowing his own cat eyes at Church, who promptly turned his back to the warlock and attempted to make himself a bed out of Magnus’ clothes, careful to destroy anything he could along the way.

After sharing a look with Chairman Meow — Magnus’ favorite of his cats — he turned back to the mess that was his now nearly empty closet.

Magnus wasn’t the type to agonize over his clothes, he bought — erm… _acquired_ in some cases — things that were comfortable, things that looked halfway decent for when he had appointments with his clients. Therefore, he had nothing appropriate to wear on a date. He was 400 years-old; he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on a date!

Most of his large closet was now emptied; picking through the few things that remained hanging, Magnus briefly considered calling the whole thing off.

He didn’t know what had possessed him to agree to this when Alec had showed up at his loft that morning, claiming to want a tarot reading after Magnus had run out on him at the institute party the night before. Magnus didn’t even know Alec, it shouldn’t have been making him so…off kilter, so flushed just thinking about him. There was something unnatural about it all.

Magnus bit his lip, thinking. What did someone as gorgeous as Alec even see in the perfectly ordinary Magnus Bane? He gave himself a disgusted look in the mirror.

Discarding an oddly sequined button up, Magnus resolved to call the whole thing off. It was ridiculous, and he should be busy doing something productive. Before Alec had stopped by that morning, he’d been halfway to setting up his new apothecary business, where he planned to sell actual magical potions and remedies to those clueless mundanes.

Magnus got all the way to his bedroom door, ready to give up, phone in hand when he realized Alec had never given him his phone number.

“Well, I tried.” Magnus told Chairman Meow with a small shrug. He tossed his cellphone to the bed and disappeared back into the closet.

“You are a centuries old warlock, you will not let some mundane throw you off,” Magnus gave himself a pep talk, quickly discarding more outfit options. “You are not some teenage mundane who’s never been on a date before. You slept with Michelangelo! You can handle a date with a gorgeous boy.”

Suddenly remembering what the biscuit — Clary from that alternate universe — had said to him after his magic was unlocked. About her universe’s Magnus…

Magnus’ gaze moved to the back of his closet unconsciously, staring at one outfit in particular. He tilted his head to the side. Chairman Meow appeared in the closet doorway, looking at Magnus and letting out a small meow. “No, you’re right. I’m being ridiculous.”

Without further delay, Magnus grabbed the first thing he saw and took it into the bathroom. It wasn’t until after he’d showered, dressed, and spent what he considered an embarrassing amount of time on his hair that he realized he still had two full hours before Alec would be there to pick him up.

“What have I gotten myself into?”

***

“Are you sure you’re alright, Alec? I’ve never seen you like this before.” Izzy sprawled across Alec’s bed in his old room at their parent’s house. Alec lived in an apartment a few blocks away, but most of his clothes were still in his old room and sometimes he slept there -- most the time. But only because Robert and Maryse Lightwood spent most their time anymore carting his younger brother Max all around the world, from one continent to another.

Izzy was supposed to be moving in with her boyfriend Simon — which Alec was trying to be supportive of, but he really didn’t like that kid. But she’d stopped halfway through packing her comics to help Alec get ready. More like drive him nuts, Alec corrected, raising an eyebrow at Isabelle over his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” he repeated, firmly. Turning back to the full-length mirror sitting in the corner of his perfectly clean and organized room — everything was black and white, perfect neat colors and decorated perfectly — he ran his palms along his tight dark jeans, pretending to straighten a crease when really he was wiping sweat off of his hands.

Alec rolled the sleeves of his long sleeved, light silky shirt. Folding them perfectly straight, with a frown in place on his face. He glanced at Izzy again, who had her hair in two braids, frizzing out all around, and was wearing her “I ship it’ shirt that had a picture of a pirate ship on it.

“I’m just saying, you’ve been hurt before Alec, and it’s my job to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

As Izzy continued to drone on, Alec looked himself up and down with a critical eye he’d learned from his mother when she taught him everything about party planning…and every other kind of planning, including what to wear to impress.

Izzy was never one to care for looks, but it was something Alec and Maryse had in common. They only grew closer when Alec came out to everyone years ago. Alec rolled his eyes, who would’ve thought then that his mom would start to see him as her quintessential gay best friend? Alec didn’t really mind though; he was basically running Lightwood Party Planning these days because of her.

Would Magnus like this look or should he go for something more…colorful? Was the button-up too much?

“Alec, are you listening to me? I’m serious. If this Magnus person does anything to hurt you, I will end him.”

Alec arched his eyebrow again, finally turning away from his own reflection. Who was he kidding, of course Magnus would like him, he was gorgeous. What wasn’t there to like?

Izzy was sitting up, a pillow in her lap, and her Lord of The Rings letter opener gripped in her left hand and extended in front of her, a determined look on her face.

“Oh yeah, Izzy. You’re frightening.”

“More so than you know,” she shot back, jumping to her feet and nearly tripping as the pillow she was holding fell to the floor.

Alec smirked, “Come on, Iz. Don’t you think you should be warning him about me?”

Catching herself, Isabelle stepped in front of Alec, shaking her head slowly. Reaching up — and up as Alec towered over her — she unbuttoned the top two buttons on his shirt.

“What?” Izzy asked at his raised eyebrow. “Just, trust me. I know some things you know? I’m not completely hopeless.”

“’Course you aren’t Izzy. Wait, what are we talking about, because if it’s your cooking, I take it back. You are completely hopeless in the kitchen.” Jace said as he strode into the room and threw himself across Alec’s recently vacated bed.

Izzy turned a glare on him and he quickly held his hands up, backing down. “But you’re a genius with everything else. Smartest one in the family, Iz.”

Isabelle grinned, tossing her braids behind her as she turned triumphantly to Alec. “Doesn’t it look better with the buttons open, Jace?”

Jace shrugged from his position on the bed, looking at Alec upside down. “Sure, Iz. I’ll take your word for it. What’s going on, Alec? Hot date?” Jace made his eyebrows dance which was disconcerting as his head hung over the edge of the bed.

Alec quickly turned away, a flush appearing on his pale cheeks. Alec never blushed, what was wrong with him? “Something like that,” he replied, running his fingers through his hair one last time.

When he turned back around, Isabelle and Jace were sharing a pointed look.

“What?” Alec asked, sighing.

“Oh. Nothing.” Izzy started. Alec knew she was gearing up to say something uncomfortable as she grabbed one of her two braids and started chewing on the end. “It’s just…I’m concerned, Alec. We both are. You don’t get nervous. I haven’t seen you this nervous…ever. I’m the awkward one. I puked before my first date with Simon, you…you…I mean, this isn’t your first date, if you know what I mean.”

Alec scoffed, shaking his head as Jace sat up, suddenly interested. “What are you doing here anyway?” Alec asked him.

Jace was practically a brother to him -- he felt like more than a brother most the time. He’d grown up with the Lightwood siblings after his own dad died. They’d even taken a sacred vow when they were younger, something about always fighting together. Alec couldn’t remember now; it was just a joke, but they’d always been best friends. Still, Jace had moved out at the beginning of the school year. He lived in some tiny apartment downtown and worked a million jobs to fund whatever his newest business idea was.

“Laundry,” Jace replied with a bashful eye roll. “I need to get to work though.”

“And I, big brother, need to finish packing.” Izzy sighed, looking off into the distance. “Why do I own so many books?”

“You wouldn’t be you, Izzy, if you weren’t a nerd,” Jace replied, rumpling Isabelle’s hair as he passed her. “Good luck tonight, Alexander,” Jace mocked.

Alec shoved Jace through the door as he laughed. Jace knew how much Alec hated being called his full name.

“Yeah. Bye. Tell the shrimp hi for me,” he added, referring to Clary. Jace nodded before disappearing down the long hallway of their giant house.

Alec turned back around to find Isabelle staring at him again with the same concerned look she’d always given him. He stepped past her, into the closet where he grabbed his dark blue blazer, knowing the color made his eyes pop even more. No matter how many guys Alec dated, no matter what Alec was doing really, Isabelle still got overprotective about everything.

“Yes, Izzy?” Alec asked, slipping into the jacket as she continued to stare at him.

“I don’t know. It’s just…you seem different… I don’t know. Maybe this Magnus will be good for you.” Standing on her tiptoes she pressed a light kiss to his cheek before leaving, using the hem of her shirt to wipe a smudge of her glasses.

Twenty minutes later, Alec was outside the door to Magnus’ loft, quietly pacing back and forth. It’s just a date, he told himself, chill out. His heart was beating erratically, his palms sweating again. This was not how Alec Lightwood acted when picking up a date. Alec Lightwood was cool and calm, smooth and reserved. Alec Lightwood didn’t chase. Alec Lightwood was chased.

Alec Lightwood stopped in front of Magnus’ door, noticing for the first time the sign next to it that read: Magnus Bane, Fortune Teller.

With a deep, shuddering breath, Alec knocked on the door. Three times in quick succession.

The door was pulled open so fast Alec nearly fell through it in shock. Magnus stood in front of him, looking up at him and Alec forgot he was Alec Lightwood, smooth and reserved. The chaser, not the chasee. He would chase Magnus anywhere.

Dressed simply, all in black, Alec would normally make some comment about Magnus needing a little color in his life, but his tongue was firmly glued to the roof of his mouth. He couldn’t stop staring.

“Alexander,” Magnus said, finally. And Alec suddenly wasn’t sure why he’d ever hated his full name.

***

Magnus was sure he’d never been so nervous in his whole life — and he’d had a long life, plenty of opportunities to be nervous and embarrassed. But Alec looking at him like that, staring him up and down like he couldn’t look away… Magnus had to step back, away from Alec, who was burning him with his gaze.

Pulling nervously at the bottom of his shirt, Magnus took in Alec’s tight jeans, button up silvery shirt and dark blazer and felt underdressed. “I…er. I wasn’t sure what to dress for,” Magnus said uncertainly.

Alec blinked slowly, as Magnus fiddled with the edge of his shirt. Alec’s face flooded with color, not a flush, something else. “No.” He said quickly. “I mean,” he cleared his throat, meeting Magnus’ eyes. “You look…amazing.”

Magnus cleared his own throat, looking away. “Er. Right. You look…” Magnus froze, searching for another word.

Alec flashed a wide grin. “Thanks,” he said in a way that somehow implied, _I know_.

“Sooo…” Magnus was looking anywhere but at Alec.

“So.” Alec was looking right at Magnus.

“Coffee?” Magnus finally offered, moving towards his small kitchen before Alec could answer. Alec smiled and followed after him.

Later that night, as Magnus stood once again in his doorway, saying goodbye to Alexander, Alec smirked down at him. “I never gave you my number,” he said, looking down at Magnus and making him realize how close they were standing together. And just how much taller Alec was.

Instead of trying to form words, his throat sore from all the talking and laughing they’d already done, Magnus slipped his phone from his pocket. Alec’s long fingers wrapped around it before Magnus could ask for the number. Magnus watched as Alec turned it on, swiping his fingers surely over it before typing something in. A few seconds later, Alec’s phone buzzed in his back pocket and he returned Magnus’ phone with a crooked smile. “There. Now you have no reason not to call me.”

“Right.” Magnus said, staring down at the phone and, more specifically, his fingers that burned where Alec’s had brushed against them.

“While this was great and all, excellent coffee and I’ve never had better takeout. You now owe me two things.”

Magnus wasn’t sure what got into him, but found himself replying with a smirk. “Two things? And what would those be exactly?”

Alec’s eyes lit up when Magnus attempted flirting, even as doubt churned in Magnus’ stomach. “One,” he counted off on his finger, before licking his lips. “You were supposed to let me buy you a drink. Two, I was supposed to take you on a date.”

“Doesn’t that mean you owe me?” Magnus replied, after swallowing a few times. Alec was staring directly into his eyes and it was making it hard for Magnus to form any thoughts, coherent or otherwise.

Alec grinned, slow and sure. “I guess we’ll see.” Before turning to leave, Alec let his fingers brush Magnus’, squeezing for just a second. He smirked as he closed the door behind him.

Magnus, leaning his back against the door as he listened to Alec’s fading footsteps, sighed. I’m in trouble, he thought, clenching his fist, fingers burning all over again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for all the comments and kudos and everyone who read my first fic! I’m super excited to get to writing more and you can expect something else up tomorrow, possibly two somethings. Also, thank you for the prompts, I’m working on them though they may not fit in this series, and give me any others you have involving alternate universe Malec (and throw in some regular universe Malec if you feel like it.
> 
> Thanks for reading, my lovely biscuits! =)


End file.
